Legislative Update - Vol. 34 No. 12 March 28, 2017 - South Carolina Legislature Online
Legislative Update, March 28, 2017
Vol. 34 March 28, 2017 No. 12
CONTENTS
HOUSE WEEK IN REVIEW...... 02
HOUSE COMMITTEE ACTION...... 06
BILLS INTRODUCED IN THE HOUSE THIS WEEK...... 14
NOTE: THESE SUMMARIES ARE PREPARED BY THE STAFF OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND ARE NOT THE EXPRESSION OF THE LEGISLATION'S SPONSOR(S) OR THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. THEY ARE STRICTLY FOR THE INTERNAL USE AND BENEFIT OF MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND ARE NOT TO BE CONSTRUED BY A COURT OF LAW AS AN EXPRESSION OF LEGISLATIVE INTENT.
HOUSE WEEK IN REVIEW
The House of Representatives approved S.218, a billPROHIBITING LOCAL GOVERNMENTSFROM REQUIRING ANEMPLOYEE BENEFIT, and enrolled the legislation for ratification. The legislation revises labor and employment provisions, by providing that counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions of this state may not establish, mandate, or otherwise require an employer to offer an employee benefit, such as health benefits, disability benefits, death benefits, group accidental death and dismemberment benefits, paid days off for holidays, paid sick leave, paid vacation leave, paid personal necessity leave, retirement benefits, and profitsharing benefits. The legislation does not limit the authority of political subdivisions to establish benefits for their own employees.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3653, a bill imposing LIMITATIONS ON NUISANCE SUITS RELATED TO MANUFACTURING AND INDUSTRIAL USES OF REAL PROPERTY. Addressing situations where urban growth has prompted residential development to expand into previously outlying areas where established industrial facilities have been operating, the legislation imposes limitations on nuisance suits that nearby residents can bring against pre-existing industrial, manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing facilities that are complying with environmental permits and are otherwise operating lawfully. Affording legal protections like those already provided for agricultural operations, the legislation proposes to codify the common law defense of ‘coming to the nuisance’ as a means of promoting economic development.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3427, a bill enacting the"SOUTH CAROLINA COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION INITIATIVE"to expand access for all students to computer science learning experiences that support literacy, math, problemsolving, and technological skills, and advance productivity in every discipline, industry, and profession. The legislation charges the State Board of Education with developing grade appropriate standards for computer science and computational thinking and computer coding for grades 912 and adopting these standards by August 1, 2018. No later than the 20192020 School Year, each public high school and public charter high school must offer at least onerigorous, standardsbased computer science course. Beginning in the 20182019 School Year, the Department of Education is required to:employ a full-time coordinator for the Computer Science Education Initiative; support K12 academic and computer science teachers in designing interdisciplinary, projectbased instruction and assignments that engage students in applying literacy, math, and computational thinking skills to solve problems;design career pathways that connect students to postsecondary education in highdemand career fieldsidentified by the Department of Commerce, such as cybersecurity, information systems, informatics, computer engineering, and software development; offer professional development and teacher endorsements to new teachers that will teach computer science who complete a two to fourweek, fullday summer institute;develop criteria for postsecondary computer science teacher preparation programs;provide information and materials which identify emerging career opportunities in computer science and related fields to parents, students, teachers, and guidance counselors; and, assist districts in developing partnerships with business, industry, higher education, and communities to provide afterschool and extracurricular activities that engage students in computer science. To provide for effective instruction, the Department of Education is charged with developing guidelines for the educational and degree requirements appropriate for computer science teachers. The Commission on Higher Education shall determine what financial incentives might be needed by institutions of higher education to design programs to prepare and credential computer science teachers. To improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in South Carolina, the Governor’s Office, beginning in fiscal year 20182019, is charged with establishing criteria and a process for designating a STEM community or STEM region, which involves collaboration among educators, administrators, business leaders, students, parents, governmental officials, and business and industry groups.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3352, a bill providing ENHANCEMENTS TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACTprovisions which guarantee citizens’ access to government proceedings and public documents. The legislation adjusts time frames for responding to FOIA requests to require more prompt compliance from public bodies, but additional time is allowed for compiling older documents. The fees that government bodies may charge for complying with FOIA requests are revised to better ensure that they do not become prohibitive. Under the revisions, fees may not exceed the actual cost of the search, retrieval, and redaction of records and fee calculations must utilize the hourly salary of the lowest paid employee qualified to perform the request. Public bodies must develop fee schedules to be posted online. Copying fees may not exceed prevailing commercial rates and public bodies may require a deposit, not to exceed twentyfive percent of the total cost for reproduction of the records, before beginning work on the request. The legislation accommodates the electronic transmission of requested records. Enforcement provisions for the Freedom of Information Act are revised in an effort to make them more effective. The rarely-utilized misdemeanor penalty for FOIA violations is eliminated and unfulfilled FOIA requests may instead be pursued through civil actions. The Office of Freedom of Information Act Review is created within the Administrative Law Court under the supervision of the Chief Administrative Law Judge to decide disputes regarding FOIA requests. The review office is offered as a new resource that citizens may use to obtain the access to public documents promised by the Freedom of Information Act without bearing the legal costs involved in compelling a government body to fulfill its FOIA responsibilities through a court challenge.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3666, a bill making provisions for DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS STABILIZATION UNIT FACILITIESwhere individuals entering hospital emergency rooms suffering from mental illness or substance abuse issues may be transferred to begin receiving appropriate care. This bill makes provisions for a crisis stabilization unit facility operated or authorized by the Department of Mental Health which provides a shortterm residential program offering psychiatric stabilization services, detoxification services, and brief, intensive crisis services twentyfour hours a day, seven days a week. The legislation exempts a crisis stabilization unit facility from the Certificate of Need process and requires a crisis stabilization unit facility to obtain a license from the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3116, a bill increasing the age limit inSAFE HAVENS FOR ABANDONED BABIES provisions that designate locations, such as hospitals, police stations, and fire stations, where someone may leave an infant under certain circumstances without criminal penalty. The legislation provides that the safe haven provisions apply to infants who are up to one year old rather than the current standard of no more than sixty days old.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3318, a bill TRANSFERRING THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT UNITfrom the Department of Public Safety to the State Law Enforcement Division.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3742, a bill providing authorization for the employment of OFFENDER SUPERVISION SPECIALISTS at the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services to oversee the supervision of standard and lowrisk offenders. The department shall promulgate regulations for the qualifications of these offender supervision specialists and procedures for classifying offenders as standard and lowrisk offenders based on criminal risk factors.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3538, the “PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES RIGHT TO PARENT ACT”. The legislation establishes provisions that parental rights cannot be terminated solely on the basis of a parent’s disability. In keeping with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Fourteenth Amendment, the legislation requires that reasonable efforts must be made, that are individualized and based upon a parent’s or legal guardian’s specific disability, to avoid removal of a child from the home of a parent or legal guardian with a disability, including referrals for access to adaptive parenting equipment, referrals for instruction on adaptive parenting techniques, and reasonable accommodations with regard to accessing services that are otherwise made available to a parent or legal guardian who does not have a disability
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3132, a bill revising the licensure and oversight of HOSPICE PROGRAMS which offer medically supervised palliative and supportive care for terminally ill patients and their families. The legislation revises hospice program licensure and regulation with the Department of Health and Environmental Control to establish new provisions governing the operation of multiple locations in addition to a hospice program’s primary office and the expansion of a hospice program beyond its licensed geographic service area into additional counties.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3879, a bill INCREASING BURIAL EXPENSES PAYABLE UNDER WORKERS’ COMPENSATION laws for accidental workplace deaths by setting the maximum amount payable to families at ten thousand dollars, rather than the current maximum of twenty-five hundred dollars for such funeral expenses.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3927, a bill providing that BONDS ISSUED BY THE JOBS-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (JEDA) to provide funds for its programs must be approved by the Coordinating Council for Economic Development rather than the State Fiscal Accountability Authority. The bill also eliminates provisions requiring approval of interest rates on bonds JEDA issues for its programs and on behalf of local government projects.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3647, a bill that revises provisions for vacation time sharing plans to establish new requirements that govern RESALE VACATION TIMESHARE SERVICES in order to put in place certain consumer protections that apply when interests in vacation time share arrangements are resold. The legislation also provides that vacation time sharing interests are subject to the protections afforded deployed military personnel under the Service Members Civil Relief Act.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3034, a bill revising eligibility criteria for IN-STATE HIGHER EDUCATION TUITION RATES FOR VETERANS AND THEIR DEPENDENTS to bring state law into conformity with federal G.I. Bill provisions for scholarship assistance.
The House concurred in Senate amendments to S.198 and enrolled the bill for ratification. The legislation revises provisions for MINORS OBTAINING BEGINNER'S PERMITS OR DRIVERS' LICENSES UNDER THE AUTHORIZATION OF RESPONSIBLE ADULTS who are willing to assume the obligation imposed for the licenses or permits. The legislation provides for a more expansive list of adults who are authorized to sign the application for a beginner's permit or driver's license of an unemancipated minor. The legislation includes provisions for sponsoring minors in obtaining beginner’s permits and driver’s licenses when the Department of Social Serviceshas guardianship or legal custody. The disclosure of information by DSS to the Department of Motor Vehicles in order to provide approval is not to be considered an unlawful dissemination of confidential information.
The House approved S.250, the ANNUAL TAX CONFORMITY BILL, and enrolled the legislation for ratification. The legislation makes provisions for updating references to the federal Internal Revenue Code in state tax law.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3463, a bill allowing for the RETENTION OF AN AGRICULTURAL PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT RATE. The legislation provides that if property was assessed as agricultural property or as farm machinery, buildings, and equipment in 2016, the property must continue to be assessed with the same assessment ratio unless a change of use occurs.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3652, a bill relating to ACCEPTABLE MATERIALS FOR WATER PIPES IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTPROCUREMENT PROJECTS utilizing state funds. The legislationprovides that all piping materials that comply with sound engineering practices and meet project requirements as determined by an engineer, employed or retained by a governmental body or any political subdivision, must be allowed to participate in the bidding process when a governmental agency is procuring piping materials for a water supply, wastewater, stormwater, or storm drainage project for which state funds are used. The legislation does not prohibit governmental agencies’ officials or engineers from choosing a material at their discretion for such projects. The provisions of the legislation do not apply if a supplier has pipe or piping materials suitable for a project purpose in stock or in inventory.
HOUSE COMMITTEE ACTION
AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES AND
ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS
The full Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs committee met on Thursday, March 23, 2017, and reported out the following bills.
The full committee gave a favorable report to S.181, a bill which provides recycling companies with the same protection given to companies under the Hazardous Waste Cleanup Act.
H.3601, legislation which creates a BEAR HUNTING SEASON in Game Zone 4 (Horry County), was given a favorable with an amendment recommendation. Currently, Game Zone 4 uses a lottery system for bear tags; this bill creates the season from October 17 through October 23.
H.3559, legislation relating to the cultivation of industrial hemp, was given a favorable with an amendment recommendation by the committee. The bill creates the South Carolina Industrial Hemp Program, a three-year pilot program, which recognizes industrial hemp as an agricultural crop, subject to regulations by the Department of Agriculture. Industrial hemp is defined as the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of such plant, whether growing or not, with a delta9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dried weight basis.
Research Universities may conduct research on industrial hemp as an agriculture commodity and shall work in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture to identify solutions for applications, applicants and new market opportunities for industrial hemp growers.
The Department of Agriculture shall issue fifteen permits under this program. Each permit is allowed to grow industrial hemp on up to 20 acres of land. To grow industrial hemp, a person must be registered with the Department as a grower. Applicants, at a minimum, must submit any and all information requested, including but not limited to state and national background fingerprint criminal checks. The legislation also outlines in the application process that before the Department issues a permit, an applicant must have proof of a buyer for the product. The Department may charge fees to administer this pilot program, not to exceed two hundred and fifty dollars annually per applicant.
The legislation also outlines that no person who has been convicted of any felony, or any person convicted of any drug related misdemeanor or violation in the previous ten years from the date of the application, shall be eligible to obtain a permit.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person engaged in cultivating, processing, selling, transporting, possessing, or otherwise distributing industrial hemp, or selling industrial hemp products from industrial hemp, is not subject to any civil or criminal actions under South Carolina law for engaging in these activities. Nothing in this provision limits or precludes the importation or exportation of industrial hemp or industrial hemp products.
The full committee gave a favorable with an amendment recommendation to H.4003, a bill enacting the “SOUTH CAROLINA PRODUCE SAFETY ACT”. The legislation allows and gives authority to the Department of Agriculture to oversee the new safety standards program applicable to certain farm produce. The program ensures that large farmers are handling and packaging produce in accordance with these national food safety standards. This legislation affects farms with an average annual monetary value of produce sold during the previous threeyear period of more than twentyfive thousand dollars on a continuing basis. There is no impact to the state as the program is federally funded. As a result, the program would discontinue if Federal funds were to terminate.
JUDICIARY
The House Judiciary Committee met Tuesday, March 21, 2017, and passed out thirteen bills.
The full committee gave a favorable recommendation, with amendments, to H.3548PROHIBITION OF DISMEMBERMENT ABORTIONSthat would enact the “South Carolina Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act.” It prohibits dismemberment abortions. Violations are felony offenses with up to $10,000in fines and up to two years in prison. Any medical professional accused of violating this provision may request a hearing before the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners.
They also gave a favorable recommendation, with amendments, to H.3930CONSTITUTIONAL HANDGUN CARRYING. Prohibits anyonefrom carrying a handgun certain places without the permission of its owner, or a person in control of the premises. Revises sections relating to unlawful and lawful handgun possession, including on public school property. Also revises the issuance of concealable weapon permits [CWP’s]. CWP’s would not be required in order for residents to carry weapons, whether concealed or openly, in South Carolina. Carrying handguns with an unlawful intent would remain illegal. Out-of-state visitors to South Carolina, who have a valid concealed weapons permit from their state, could carry in South Carolina as well, so long as they do so in compliance with our state laws.